Fuel



Patented Feb. 14,1928.

UNITED STATES THEODORE NAGEL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. v

FUEL.

No Drawing.

My invention relates to lump fuel, and has for one of its objects the production of a new article of manufacture serving to provlde an outlet for certain carbonaceous materials for- 6 which heretofore there has existed a limited market. v

More specifically, my invention is directed to an improved. lump fuel product, which may or may not be in the form of briquets, 10 composed in major part of raw low-volatile bituminous coal, the burning qualities of the coal having been so transformed that this prepared lump fuel becomes a valuable domestic fuel as a direct competitor with anthracite.

A still further object of my invention is the production of a water-insoluble lump fuel, composed in major part of raw lowvolatile bituminous coal, slack and screenings for example, that does not detrimentally disintegrate and does not soften nor flow when heated and while burning is substantially infusible and. smokeless, i. e., the lumps do not soften nor flow when heated, and while burning the lumps do not cake or coke one to the other to form larger lumps or masses, as distinguished from the manner in which raw coking bituminous coal fuses While burning, thereby providing a ,lump fuel which is Weatherresistant, and a fuel sufficiently smokeless that it can he used to replace anthracite for domestic purposes. By the term smokeless I mean to say that, while burning, my improved fuel emits smoke in no greater volume than that emitted, under similar conditions, bythe. softer grades of lump anthracite, such as mined, for example, from the southern Penn sylvania fields around Hazleton to Shamokm 49 and south of Pottsville.

Lump sizes of low-volatile bituminous coal, i. e., a coal containing for example from 7%% to 25% volatile matter, prepared for domestic consumption, is so fragile that'itarrives in the consumers cellars reduced to mine-run condition, in which state it does not, of course, have a fair chance to qualify as a domestic fuel in competition with anthracite. For instance, coal in such broken up 59 condition fills up the draft channels in the fire-box and retards or chokes off the draft, thereby exposing to the fire much greater fuel surface than lump coal, and when it is freshly placed on a hot fire there is quickly distilled and driven off a correspondingly larger v'olburning, in that they will not revert to their Application filed November 15, 1928. Serial 1%. 148,614.

ume of gas which goes off assmoke because of the restriction of the draft by the brokenup coal. Consequently, in the anthracite consuming districts, the market for lowvolatile bituminous coal for domestic uses Where natural draft only is available is extremely limited so that this fuel is restricted principally to industrial uses, and even for industrial purposes the slack and screenings of this coal has only a limited demand.

My invention, however, provides a fuel ,made from comminuted raw low-volatile bituminous coal held by a binder in lump form, so that in the fire-box it forms channels in the fuel-bed for the passage of the requisite air necessary for complete combustion of the evolved gases, thebinder' employed being of such a character that the lumps of fuel will not disintegrate while original state of comminution, so that a porous fuel-bed is maintained at all times to insure complete combustion.

My invention also provides a fuel, made from comminuted raw low-volatile bituminous coal which is held or retained by the binder in lump form until consumed, thereby exposing only the minimum'of fuel surface to the fire,,in consequence of which and by reason of the coal and the binder employed' being poor heat conductors, the distillation of gases is retarded to such a rate of evolution in proportion to the rate of the unrestricted draft, the latter dueto the fuel being maintained in lump form as above to pointed out, that substantially complete combustion is insured, thereby eliminating the formation of smoke. In other words I have imparted chemical and physical properties to the coal toretard the rate of distillation of the volatiles of the coal while burning to such a degree that the lump coal burns as a smokeless fuel.

I wish it to be understood that in the prep aration of my improved fuel, it is not necessary to process T16 coal, viz, to change or alter the chemical properties thereof. On the contrary, the coal is retained in its. original raw condition, as distinguished from those fuel making processes employing bituminous coal wherein it is necessary to distill or drive off a portion of the volatile matter of the coal in the manufacture of the fuel. The elimination of processing the coal by heat, of course, materially reduces the cost no of production and enables my improved fuel to be sold to the domestic tradeat commercially practicable prices.

The binder employed in the practice of the present invention, though not necessarily so, may be the same, for example, as those binders covered by my prior United States Patents Nos. 1,507,675 and 1,507,676.

In the commercial practice of my invention I take, for example, the slack and screenings of low-volatile bituminous coal, for which material there is a limited market at the present time and which coal, as above ointed out, has volatile matter ranging from 75 to 25%, and after drying out the moisture therefrom, should this be neces sary, I mix with the coal a binding compound which may be similar, for example, to the binder of my prior Patents Nos. 1,507,675 and 1,507,676 and comprising, for example, an adhesive compound such as sulphite liquor to which is added a phosphorous compound, such as phosphoric acid. The mixture may then, if desired, be pressed into briquet form, and is next heat-treated at a temperature ranging from 200 C. to 500. C. The temperature employed, while below the distillation temperature of the volatile matter of the particular coal under consideration, is sufficient to drive oil the water content of the binding compound and to carbonize the orgai "r materials thereof so as to convert the binding compbund into a fixed carbon, Water-insoluble, odorless, infusible, combustible and non-volatile binder, the binder being non-volatile in that it contains no hydrocabrons and emits no hydrocarbon gases. Consequently, the resulting product is a lump fuel composed of finely-divided, raw or unprocessed low-volatile bituminous coal, that is to say, a coal which according to some authorities has a volatile content within the limits of 7 to 25% by weight of the coal, and represented by such coals as Pocahontas and New River, rendered substantially water-insoluble, infus ible, smokeless and odorless by the binder with which the coal particles are united and held in lump form. In referring to my improved fuel as water-insoluble, I mean that after total immersion in Water at ordinary tein eratures up to say F. for 24.- hours, the ump fuel hasnot crumbled nor disintegrated but remains substantially in as firm a lump texture as it was prior to immersion.

The amount of binding compound necessary to accomplish my purpose varies with the fineness of the coal particles with which the binding compound is mixed, as obviously, the finer the particles the more surface to cover, and by way of example may range from 8% to 15% by weight of the coal.

It will be seen from the foregoing, therefore, that I have produced a lump fuel composed of comminuted raw low-volatile bituminous coal, adaptable as a domestic fuel, and which by the chemical and physical properties I have imparted to it can successfully compete with anthracite. It will be seen also that inasmuch as the coal and binder are both poor heat conductors, and inasmuch as the coal particles are held by the binder in lump form while burning so as to expose the minimum surface to the heat of the fire, the rate of distillation of the volatiles from the coal is retarded to such an extent in proportion to the rate of the unrestricted draft due to the lurn form in which the fuel is retained, that en stantially complete combustion is assured. In fact, chemical and physical properties have been imparted to the raw coal so as to render the lump fuel substantially water-insoluble and infusible and smokeless while burning. 'My improved fuel is also odorless in that when heated and while burning, the lump fuel produces no smells that are foreign to the odors produced by the raw low-volatile bituminous coal burning under similar conditions.

"What I claim is:

1. An article of manufacture composed of comminuted raw low-volatile bituminous coal and a non-volatile, water-insoluble combus' tible binder imparting to the comminuted coal, chemical and physical properties to produce lump, raw coal, smokeless fuel.

2. An article of manufacture composed of comminuted raw bituminous coal containing volatile matter from not substantially less than seven and one-half percen'tum to not substantially more than twenty-five percentum, and a non-volatile, water-insoluble combustible binder, imparting to the comminuted coal, chemical and physical properties producing lump, raw coal, smokeless fuel, by retarding the rate of distillation of the volatiles of the lump coal while burning to such a degree that the lump coal burns as a smokeless fuel.

An article of manufacture composed of comminuted raw bituminous coal containing volatile matter within the limits of seven and one-half percentum to twenty-five percentum, and an incorporated binding compound, the said binding compound, after incorporation with the coal and after the coal has been pressed into lump form, being subjected to heat treatment at a tem erature within the limits of 200 C. to 500 thereby to be converted into a non-volatile, waterinsoluble, combustible binder, imparting to the comminuted raw bituminous coal, chemical audphysical properties producing lump, raw coal, smokeless fuel, by retarding the rate of distillation of the volatiles of the lump coal while burning to such a degree that the lump coal burns as a smokeless fuel.

This specification signed this 11th day of llovcn'ibcr, 1926.

THEODORE NAGEL. 

